WB govt to bring new bill to protect investors

The West Bengal government today decided to introduce a new bill for protection of investors following the duping of thousands allegedly by chit fund company Saradha Group, after withdrawing an earlier one passed by the former Left Front regime.
The new Protection of Depositors Interest Bill 2013, will replace the earlier West Bengal Protection of Depositors Interest Bill 2009 introduced by the previous Left Front government, which was sent back by the President to the state government as sought by it.
The new bill will be tabled on the second day of a special session of the Assembly on April 29 and 30, Speaker Biman Banerjee said.

Stating that the government wanted to formulate a strong legislation, Banerjee said the session has been called keeping in mind the unrest created, after Saradha Group went bust affecting thousands of investors.
A motion will be moved in the House to withdraw the West Bengal Protection of Depositors in Financial Institutions Bill 2009 introduced by the previous Left Front government, Banerjee said.
Deputy Leader in the House and Industry minister Partha Chatterjee said, the new bill will have retrospective effect.

Once the bill is passed and becomes an Act, the new legislation will be able to effectively deal with the Saradha scam and other similar incidents, he said adding, the new bill will be more stringent and also empower authorities to confiscate assets of perpetrators of fraud.

CPI-M leader and MLA Anisur Rahman, however, claimed it is not possible to give retrospective effect to the new bill.
"The earlier one was equipped to deal with the present situation," he said.
Earlier, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, referring to the West Bengal Protection of Depositors in Financial Institutions Bill 2009 said it had been sent back to the Governor, who had sent it back to the state government.